Unfinished Business: CBC to Republican Leadership--Do Your Job

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, it is indeed an honor to be here and standing with Congresswoman Beatty and with Congressman Jeffries as you bring forth truth to power here in what you speak of. It is definitely a timely topic to be discussing unfinished business, what we can do.

People need to realize that we have but 15 legislative days left in this congressional session, and there are so many things that need to be done that haven't been appropriately addressed.

I want to associate myself with the comments that were made by those who came before me as it relates to gun safety. I want to remind us that back in 2012, in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, someone went in there and killed 20 children and 6 adults and killed himself. Since that time, there have been at least 1,100, close to 1,200 mass shootings, at least 1,300 deaths, and at least 4,700 that have been wounded; and that is just since November 6th.

There are so many commonsense gun safety bills that are just waiting to be voted on. I know that, if given the opportunity, the majority in this House would vote appropriately and properly, taking into consideration the safety and security they represent to our communities.

There are other things that we need to be thinking about. We need to ensure that we are protecting the environment; that we are protecting the environment against unnecessary fracking and unnecessary pipelines.

We need to make sure that we are reforming criminal justice, that we are educating, not incarcerating; that we are putting our resources where we get the best value.

We need to increase the minimum wage so that people can have a livable wage, raise their families, take care of their homes, and ensure that they have a little bit of money to spend so that they can churn up this economy.

We need to restore the Voting Rights Act. We need to ensure that voting is accessible; that people have the opportunity and the encouragement to vote when they are supposed to and when they could.

Finally, one last thought from me, we need to look at the kinds of protections that we have had in our banking system, protect just everyday families with their investments. We need to make sure that we are investing in the 21st century Glass-Steagall Act. Those are the things that the people, everyday working families, look for us to do our work. Together, we can do those things and make it better for each and every one of us.

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